Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mohammad Esmaeil Esmaeili Jelodar ¹
• Jamileh Mansouri Jezabadi ²
• Mohammad Mortezayi ³

¹ Associate Professor, Depart of Archaeology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran, Iran,

² Ph.D. Candidate of Archaeology Department, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Tehran. Tehran. Iran.

³ Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology Islamic Period, Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

JORJĀN was an economic, cultural, scientific and political hub in the district of Jorjan during the third, fourth and fifth centuries AH. The prosperity of trade made it one of the richest cities in Iran. Historical Written sources have spoken about the commercial connection of the city of Jorjan with Neyshābūr, Khwarezm, Ray, the cities of Tabarestan especially Tamisa and Amol, and even the cities of the Caspian province on the other side of the Caspian lake.

During the first six centuries of the Islamic era, the city of JORJĀN was known as the economic hub of the JORJĀN region. Jorjan had established trade relations and cultural exchanges with important cities such as Neyshabur, Ray, Amol and Khwarezm by land and with the cities of the Khazar region and beyond by sea. Therefore, the main question of the research was considered as what were the transportation routes of the city of Jorjan, during its life, from the first centuries of Islam until the time of the Mongol attack that caused the destruction of this city? According to the identification of the possible location of one of the gates of the city wall by the authors during the research, can we find a meaningful connection between the roads leading to the city and this gate? This research has been done using written historical sources and archaeological evidence and with a library method and a descriptive and analytical approach. The researches led to the identification of the roads connecting the city of Jorjan with Neyshabur, Ray, the cities of Tabarestan, Khwarezm and the port of Abaskun and a large number of inter-road places and staging posts on these routes were also accurately located. According to the location of the possible gate discovered, the result of the research shows that this gate was used to connect the city of Jorjanand the port of Abaskun. Also, there is a weak possibility that this gate was accessed by the Bakrabad-Estarabad road or the roads leading to Khwarezm and Dehistan.

Keywords

• JORJĀN
• Roads
• the gate of city
• Neyshabur
• Amol
• Ray
• Khwarezm

Main Subjects

• Archaeology